Halberdiers
Behind him march the halberdiers; before him sound the drums ... —Lord Macaulay, ''The Armada '' In game Overall Strategy A halberd is a polearm, consisting of a crescent-shaped axehead, tipped by a spear, and as a weapon can be fairly versatile. The halberd's main advantage over weapons is that it can be used in a great variety of ways — it can stab, as much as it can bludgeon or smash, with equal effect. Thus, it is not surprising that Halberdiers can be found as part of the infantry of many Asian and European factions. With their fairly average price and good attack which can deal devastating amounts of splash damage, Halberdiers are highly versatile, being capable of being deployed against a variety of enemy units — melee infantry, unarmoured cavalry, and archers, although you should not expect them to stand up to heavy cavarly or missile units on a flanking manoeuvre. So if you are faced by a mass of Halberdiers, look to your ranged units and heavy cavalry to save the day. Halberdiers are eventually replaced by Grenadiers, a powerful class of heavy assault infantry with a ranged attack. Unit summary Notes In Rise of Napoleon, this unit is available only to China as the Imperial Guardsmen . Several different versions of the Halberdier exist - one encased in armour for Japan and Western nations, the other in Ming dress for China and Korea. History The use and popularity of polearms throughout Europe and Asia attests much to the popularity of this weapon: despite being deceptively simple to make, a polearm was highly lethal, especially in the hands of well-trained users. Polearms combined the long reach of spears and shorter weapons, such as warhammers or swords to form a highly versatile anti-personnel weapon. Caesar's naval victory in north-eastern Gaul (present-day Brittany, France) was attributed to the use of billhooks which were used to disable Gaulish ships, granting the Romans north-western Gaul. In Northern Asia and Europe, polearms were often the favourite weapons of various armies of the Middle Ages, because of their availability and were even used from horseback in China and Japan. It was an unnamed Lorrainian peasant soldier who killed Charles the Bold with a halberd at Nancy in 1477, ending the Burgundian Wars in one stroke. Halberds continued to be used in North Asia and Europe well even after more improved weapons such as muskets began to make an appearance. Halberds were used on both sides of the English Civil War of the 17th century. By the 18th century, halberds ceased to be used as weapons and were merely meant for ceremonial use on the parade ground for foot officers in Europe; China, Korea and Japan continued using different variations of the halberd until the all-out adoption of rifled firearms for infantry. Today, halberds are used in the West solely in re-enactments and ceremonial duties (the warders of the Tower of London are one such example), while various native versions are still used by Chinese and Japanese martial artists. References *Quick English Civil War Facts, Halberd - a weapon used in the English Civil War by the sergeant Category:Heavy infantry